Saturday, January 28, 2012

Notes from Bonnie's Desk

January brought many opportunities for giving to some truly worthwhile causes and I am humbled by the awesome response to our Soles4Souls shoe drive which ended this week. I am thrilled to say that Finders Keepers collected 3670 pairs of shoes and 69 singles for this shoe drive and I would like to thank to each and every customer, consignor, neighbor, friend and church member who took the time to clean out their closets and bring those no longer needed shoes to one of the shops, Avondale City Hall, Avondale First Baptist, or my front porch!

Together with NAPO-GA, we sent 10,157 pairs of shoes and 359 singles to the Soles4Souls distribution center in Alabama over the last 3 months. We proved that the greater Atlanta Area is a very giving community.

Many of those shoes will go to developing countries including Haiti and some will be distributed in the United States. These shoes are often the first pair of shoes that a person will own. That should make us all happy and humbled at the same time, I know it does me. But there is another avenue for some of these shoes which to me is more exciting as an entrepreneur and I want to share a little of what I have learned about this.Some of the shoes get packaged and sold to individuals in developing countries for a “micro enterprise” business venture. This micro-entrepreneur cleans and sells the shoes at village markets and then with those profits, he or she buys more shoes and thus grows the business. This business is a way to escape poverty and take care of his or her family by making a living instead of living on handouts. Now THIS appeals to me!

I saw some awesome shoes as I rubber banded and tied shoes together, wondering who would be wearing the brand new Timberland boots that someone donated or what woman just have to have the cute red sandals with the button closure or what child’s feet would be protected in the stride rite sneakers. Your generosity has warmed my heart and warmed many feet far from here. To find out more go to www.soles4souls.org